Off-Screen System
__NOEDITSECTION__ Introduction= __NOEDITSECTION__ Requiem for Kingsmouth differentiates between two levels of gameplay: * Off-screen: When your actions are represented by naked dicerolls, with abbreviated and purely descriptive RP, such as when you call on your Allies or deal with your Territory. This does not mean no story is happening - you can and should have the things that happen off-screen influence your roleplay. * On-screen / RP-level: This is where the RP happens. At times, you may zoom from off-screen to on-screen, putting you back down on the street and in your character's shoes, for example to deal with a territory problem. The off-screen system consists of seven interwoven modules: * Downtime: A resource that is required to do off-screen actions, and how much time things take * Assets: Systems to grow, attack and defend assets like Retainers and Resources * PCs/NPCs: Systems to grow, attack and defend PCs and NPCs * Feeding: Off-screen system to get blood * Influence: 15 areas of influence and how to use them to your benefit * Primacy (Political/Support only): An advantage that benefits certain off-screen actions * Territory (Political/Support only): How to acquire, defend and manipulate turf This page only elaborates on the things that are true for the off-screen system and its actions in general. If you want to learn more about the specific modules, follow the links above. Please keep in mind that this is a beta version of the off-screen system. Any concerns or notes you may have are welcomed. We'll try to preserve a sense of verisimilitude and fairness, while making just about every skill useful at some point in the system. |-|Actions= __NOEDITSECTION__ - Exposure= __NOEDITSECTION__ Some off-screen actions involve the risk of being seen. Failing to meet the exposure threshold for an action means that word gets around about the action. You can try to cover it up afterward, but you'd best be quick about it. The exposure threshold can be one of three levels. For each off-screen action, the threshold is given by "Dicepool (Exposure)". * Low Exposure requires 1 success to not be seen. * Moderate Exposure requires 2 successes. * High Exposure requires 3 successes. - Investigate actions= __NOEDITSECTION__ A new crisis has arisen in your territory and you want to know what caused it. Someone has been poking into your affairs and you want to know who. One of your retainers was just shot in the street and you need to know if it was a random act of violence, or a calculated hit from another Kindred. Every three successes on the investigation allows you to ask the ST one question. 'Is there an active crisis here?' 'Did Debonair Rival do this?' 'Is this from a supernatural creature I know about?' 'Who was here when this place burned down?' are all valid questions. Your dice-pool is modified by the area information or ignorance as appropriate, and by the attitude of the area. If investigating an event, your dicepool is penalized by one die per day after the fact. 'Investigate' : Action: Resisted (Anonymity/Alternate Identity) and Extended : Time: Investigation costs 1 hour to begin, and takes 2 hours per die roll, time paid in advance : Dicepool: ::Wits + Investigation (Low) ::Wits + Empathy (Moderate) ::Wits + Streetwise/Politics (High) ::You may add all your Auspex dots, and half your dots for any of the following disciplines: Animalism, Dominate, Majesty, or Protean : Command: +request Investigation (thing)= : Modifier: Sites, Resource Points, Territory : Teamwork: Yes If investigating a character or action, see PCs/NPCs for specific variations. If investigating a territory, see Territory for specific variations. - Cover up actions= __NOEDITSECTION__ You can send assets to clean up your mess, or you can do it yourself. The cover-up causes investigating the action to become contested. 'Cover up' : Action: Simple/Contested : Time: 7 hours per specific action. : Dicepool: ::Manipulation + Subterfuge + (half Majesty) (Moderate) ::Wits + Streetwise + (half Protean) + (half Majesty) (Low) ::Wits + Larceny + (half Protean) (Low) ::You may add your dots in Dominate, Nightmare, and Obfuscate. : Modifiers: Sites, Resource Points : Teamwork: Yes }} |-| Off-screen Monday= __NOEDITSECTION__ The Off-Screen System is intended to have refreshes on the first of the month and the Monday of each week. This is intended to create a gap between beat-Fridays and downtime-Mondays, so the storytelling staff can handle the influx of work more readily. Actions will NOT BE PROCESSED on Mondays! The following Tuesday the actions will be resolved in order, and conflicting actions will take into account the time necessary to implement them. Thus if you want to start the defense for your week, you can renew it on Monday, with no fear of the overlap from the previous week elapsing. Note that there is no time drag on defense actions! This is intended. |-|Tips and Tricks= __NOEDITSECTION__ 'General advice' * Ask around if you're not sure how to get something done with the off-screen system. Staff and players are there to help you. * Give feedback. This is the OSS 2.0, and has been revised according to player feedback. Your feedback will help us to improve it further! * Use the OSS to create drama. Wanna have a new rival? Just attack their Allies! * Trade OSS goodies with other characters. Juice, favors from Allies, your Downtime hours, access to a territory site -- all of these things are valuable. 'Character builds and mechanics' * Play Political or Support. If you wanna throw your Juice around and send mafia thugs after your rivals, these is the playstyle for you. The OSS is not designed for Civilian players. * Form Coteries. Groups can achieve more than individuals. * Assign Retainers to cover up or defend your people. * Good Time Management saves a lot of time for only 5 beats. Not only do you get 4 more Downtime hours each week, you also need only half the time for extended actions, like growing assets. * Patient gives two more rolls on extended actions. * Specialize. For example, Allies (X) 5 is usually more valuable than five Allies groups with a rating of 1. * Professional Training provides 9-again for off-screen actions if the roll involves one of your professional skills. * Use territory sites to get bonuses to your off-screen actions. If you don't have the right site in your own territory, ask another territory owner for permission to use theirs. * Throw money at off-screen actions to get bonuses for bribery. A couple of RP can save a lot of time. |-|Merits = __NOEDITSECTION__ Merits that apply Off-Screen are: *'Acute Senses' adds your Blood Potency to Investigation actions. *'Allies' give one favor per level each month, and may be called in to give bonus dice. They can be used for illegal actions (that is, actions their influence field would not approve of). *'Alternate Identity' makes it more difficult to Investigate you or your actions. *'Anonymity' makes it more difficult to Investigate you or your actions. *'Contacts' provide rumors of what's going on in the city, and may often be used as a starting point for Investigations. *'Good Time Management' gives you 4 more Downtime hours per week, and halves the time for extended actions, like growing assets. *'Patient' gives two more rolls on extended actions. *'Professional Training' provides 9-again for off-screen actions if the roll involves one of your asset skills. At 5 dots, Willpower may be spent to give a single roll the rote quality. *'Retainers' may Defend or Cover-Up a number of individuals, actions, or territories equal to (Rank - 6) each week. They may also be called on to give bonus dice to other actions. Retainers with Status may only be used for legal actions (that is, actions that are within the purview of their job). *'Status' gives you bonus dice when working in relevant fields. *'Trained Observer' gives you 9-agains or 8-agains on Investigation actions. |-|Terminology = __NOEDITSECTION__ Assets: Retainer, Ally, Feeding Ground, Mentor, or Resources merits are all assets. Feeding Ground and Resources are 'static assets', while Retainer, Ally, and Mentor are 'dynamic assets' (because they move around). Attitude: A mutable condition that affects extended dicepools in off-screen actions within a Territory. Control: One of the methods for defining your Assets. Retainers and Allies must be controlled by blood, time, money, or threats. Crisis: A conflict rated from 1 to 5 as an issue that must be solved to control, or maintain control of, a Territory. Some of them are hooks for deeper plot. Some of them are not. Domine: IC term - One whose Influence is fed by another's. IE: Eric is Pam's Domine; Pam is Eric's Proxy. Only ever Political characters. Downtime Hours: A pool of ephemeral 'free time' that is spent for off-screen actions including hunting, maintenance, and influence actions. Exposure: The risk of being seen. Failing to meet the Exposure Threshold for an action means that word gets around about the action. You can try to cover it up afterward, but you'd best be quick about it. (See Action -> Exposure) Face: A measure of respect and control of a Territory. Each Kingpin has a level of Face for each territory they control. Face is lowered by the level of any Crisis. Primacy: A secondary system for Political and Support players that determines their value to the Kindred as a driving force in the mortal world and can be used to gain benefits for off-screen actions. See also Proxy and Domine. Investigation: An action taken in downtime to look into events or people. Investigation is always rewarded in iterations of three successes. Kingpin: The figure or organization in charge of a Territory. This person must be toppled from power before you can begin to gain Face. Proxy: IC term - One whose Influence is subordinate to another's. IE: Pam is Eric's Proxy; Eric is Pam's Domine. Ghouls are automatically proxied to their regnants. Support characters may be proxied to Political characters; Political and Civilian characters may not be proxied at all. Territory Traits: Interactive and Reactive statistics that help to define a territory. Information/Ignorance (Mental), Safety/Access (Physical), Prestige/Stability (Social), and Bloodpool. Upkeep: Time paid to ensure the health and use of assets and status. See Downtime. |-|Templates= __NOEDITSECTION__ As a general rule, there are several pieces of information you can provide that will make your OSS jobs go faster: 1) What are you doing? I am investigating Bontemps. 2) How much time you do want to spend? I am spending five hours''' to investigate Bontemps.'' :Spend the downtime for this with +dt 5=Investigating Bontemps 3) What dicepool are you using? ''I am spending five hours to investigate Bontemps, '''using Wits + Investigation. 4) Do you have any bonuses you know of? I am spending five hours to investigate Bontemps, using Wits + Investigation + Auspex. '''I have 9-agains from Trained Observer, a +3 from the Police Academy Investigation site, and I'm spending 4 resource points on each roll for +2 worth of bribes.' 5) What result are you hoping to get? ''I am spending five hours to investigate Bontemps, using Wits + Investigation + Auspex. I have 9-agains from Trained Observer, a +3 from the Police Academy Investigation site, and I'm spending 4 resource points on each roll for +2 worth of bribes. '''I want to uncover any crises that have arisen in the area, who Havens in the area, and who has been feeding in the area, in that order.' Another example. See if you can spot 1-5! ''+request/Magic Faerie Vagina=I am attempting to solve the Sookie's Magic Faerie Vagina crisis in Bontemps by spreading foul rumors about her. I feel like that's Manipulation + either Socialize or Empathy? I'm going to be using The Grand Delusion (Nightmare 3), which is Empathy-based, if that makes a difference. I'll spend 1 RP for a +1, representing me buying drinks for the people I'm gossiping with. I also have Etiquette 2, 'Losing Your Religion' - does that apply here? It would give me 8-agains and a +2 bonus on the roll. You're welcome to roll for me! :+dt 12=Solving Sookie's Magic Faerie Vagina And another: +request/Occult Allies=I want to up my Occult Allies to 3 dots - I've already established I'm controlling them by blackmail. I'm using Manipulation 3 + Persuasion 2 + Dominate 2. I want to use the Persuasion 4 site in Bontemps, but I don't have permission so I'll only get half the bonus from it, for a total of 9 dice. Dominate to wheedle out their tasty, tasty secrets, and Persuasion to convince them they'd rather work with me than have those become public... ''I also want to clean up after myself so Debonair Rival doesn't know I've been using his stuff! I have Manipulation 3 + Subterfuge 3 + Specialty (Secrets) 1 + Dominate 3 + Obfuscate 1, so 11 dice for the cover-up. I don't mind spending all my downtime on this, but I need 7 hours left for the cleanup, so if it takes more than 3 rolls to get the 9 successes I need for Allies 3 I'll clean up and finish rolling next week. :Note: Each roll to grow assets takes 4 hours. Cover up takes a flat 7 hours. :Note: If you have permission to use a site (or you control it, thereby giving yourself permission) you get its full bonus. If you don't have permission you only get half the bonus, rounded down. :Note: The player hasn't already spent downtime here, because they didn't know how long it would take - but that's okay! Staff will spend it for them! Category:Off-Screen System